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About the Book

Increased demands for colleges and universities to engage in outcomes assessment for accountability purposes have accelerated the need to bridge the gap between higher education practice and the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation. The Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education provides higher education administrators, student affairs personnel, institutional researchers who generate and analyze data, and faculty with an integrated handbook of theory, method, and application. This valuable resource brings together applied terminology, analytical perspectives, and methodological advances from the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation to facilitate informed decision-making in higher education.

Questions and Exercises follow each Section to reinforce the valuable concepts and insights presented in the preceding chapters.

Bridging the gap between practice in higher education with advances in measurement, assessment, and evaluation, this book enables educational decision-makers to engage in more sound professional judgment. This handbook provides higher education administrators with both high-level and detailed views into contemporary theories and practices, supplemented with guidance on how to apply them for the benefit of students and institutions.

Reviews

"The Handbook on Measurement, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education is coming out at a precarious and important moment in the history of American higher education—and, as a result, will become a critical resource to higher education leaders and assessment and teaching and learning practitioners. The fields of assessment, evaluation, and educational measurement continue to mature and, as a result, if used wisely, can dramatically improve educational outcomes. At the same time, higher education institutions are under enormous pressure from outside constituents to demonstrate their value to their students and to taxpayers and members of the public. The analysis and advice offered in this handbook will be extremely valuable as educational leaders work to respond to calls for greater accountability and work to improve their institution’s ability to use assessment data to improve programs."

-Debra Humphreys, Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs, Association of American Colleges and Universities

"This Handbook provides a comprehensive and practical synthesis of the methods used to measure and improve higher education at every level. Pressures for accountability and accreditation have forced colleges and universities to devote greater analytical attention to measuring goal attainment, evaluating academic programs and student services, and assessing student learning outcomes. Drawing upon an impressive array of contributors from diverse disciplinary perspectives, Secolsky and Denison have assembled chapters that, in the aggregate, represent the best of what we know about measuring, assessing, and evaluating our institutions, programs, and students. Thus, the volume deserves frequent reference and space on the book shelf of every researcher, campus administrator, faculty member, and higher education policy maker."

-J. Fredericks Volkwein, Professor Emeritus of Education, Pennsylvania State University

"This is a timely and important book. At a moment in our history when public problems are commonly reduced to oversimplifications that make them harder, not easier, to resolve, this brave new text by Secolsky and Denison presents -- in a highly accessible way -- the full complement of factors in higher education that need to be considered in evaluating student learning outcomes. The authors have produced an intelligent, complete, authoritative, realistic and useful piece of work that may well be a model for evaluating complex social issues generally."

-Eleanor Chelimsky, Former Director of Program Evaluation, U.S. Government Accountability Office

"A working knowledge of measuring collegiate learning and evaluating academic effectiveness is as indispensable for today’s university administrator as reading a budget. For the scholar of English literature or the chemist thrust into the role of Dean, accreditation site visitor, or assessment committee chair, this volume delivers the basics of this vast field in a manner that is easy to grasp and apply. Keep it handy."

-Peter Ewell, Vice President of the National Center For Higher Education Management Systems